Divine Divinity

 

A lot of people missed this game back in 2002 and many still have never played it. I was one of those many… But no more.

This game has the feel of the Ultima series. Course you could also say its a mix of Diablo / Baldurs Gate.

The game still holds up well 7 years later graphically.

Combat is on the action side of things and you can pause at any time to figure out your next move or just to take a break. Combat hard at the beginning of the game because you have nothing and the Orcs outside of the first town are pretty strong. Have to do a few of the easy quests in the starter town first to get built up a bit before doing battle. Even then you still run into some real tough battles along the way. I still had some trouble when my character was level 20. Creatures do not level with you so you can and will run into creatures 20 levels higher..

Any character can learn any skills.. Warriors can learn mage spells , Survivors can learn Warrior abilities.. Whatever you want to build .. Totally up to you. Want a Battlemage? You got it. Want a Death Knight who can summon skeletons and other beasts? You got it.

Quests , Quests , Quests, There are tons of them and none of them hold your hand. There are several where you end up having to really explore to solve. Not going to lie.. I used a some guides to figure out some of them. It was refreshing to have to think a bit while doing quests. There are also multiple ways to finish some quests so you are not locked into the same thing on another play through. I have been playing around 20 hours and have barely started to main quest line.

Another nice thing to see is that loot is randomized even on quest rewards. So you could save right before turning in a quest the has a set reward or a boss that drops a particular item and then reload until you get the stats and modifications you want. I reloaded about 50 time to get a 5 slot mana leech and freeze sword ( was well worth it ). Armor , Jewelry and Weapons all can have slots on them. With these slots you can use gems to add stat bonuses like resistances , exra health , extra mana , strength , dexterity , intelligence and constitution.

Verdict

Tons of playtime available here. No one should pass this game up just because it is 7 years old… A true gem.

88 out of 100.

Legends of Kesmai

This was and still is one of my favorite Online RPGs to be created.

You create your character and spread your available stat points around to Strength , Dexterity , Willpower , Intelligence , Wisdom and Constitution. The class you choose will decide where you should spend those points. There is a golden rule for this game on character creation… ALWAYS set your Strength and Dexterity to 15 points each at least no matter which class you choose. If you don’t then you will lose out on combat adds.

The Classes

Fighter – This is a barebones class that gets no special abilities or extra health. This class can become a Knight at level 8 upon completing a quest.

Wizard – Of course we all know what this is! This class can lay waste to entire levels later on and even take out big packs of creatures with just a fireball or icestorm. The later spells are pretty impressive for a game of nature.

Thaumaturge – A priest of sorts that has impressive offensive power along with summons they can control to make their life easier. Does not have many spells that cover a large area. Can’t forget to mention they also get a heal spell.

Martial Artist – This class can punch , kick and jump kick.. These guys do the most amount of damage of any class in Melee. Cannot wear armor but have the highest amount of health points of any class.

Thief – This is my favorite class. Can hide in shadows ( it is a spell ) and throw daggers or shoot a bow at creatures. They also get spells that allow you to venom weapons or move 2x faster. This class is neutral so weapon are limited.. Most just go with Hand skill as the primary skill.

Knight – This is what the fighter class is all about and what I think of when I think of Knights / Paladins.. These guys are mean and darn near unkillable is most areas due to their high health points and an instant cure ability they can use on them or on others.

Skills

The skills of this game are semi open meaning that Wizards and Thaumaturges can use any weapon / armor in the game but not vice versa.. Martial Artists and Knights cannot learn Wizard or Thaumaturge spells.

The more you use a spell or weapon the better you become with it. You start out at skill level 1 and that reaches all the way to skill level 19 ( which would literally take years ). The higher your weapon skill the better accuracy and blocking ability you have. The higher your magic skill level the more spells you can get and the more damage you do.

Combat and Movement

Combat and Movement are controlled with the mouse by double clicking to attack or move. Nothing is automated. After each attack or movement there is a round timer of 3-4 seconds before you can do another action.

Outside of a few spells and water there are no animations ( some of the spells are pretty impressive however ).

Verdict

If you are like me and want to experience a MUD without all the reading and text commands then this game would be a good thing to try.

70 out of 100.

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